1. Technical Field
One or more embodiments include a method and system for remotely monitoring a condition of vehicle components or systems. One or more vehicle components or systems may be monitored from a nomadic wireless device or computer.
2. Background Art
Mechanical and electrical problems with a vehicle can arise at any time, but the vehicle may manifest only a few symptoms. For example, a squeak, a rattle, or a “knocking” noise coming from the vehicle is likely to indicate that the car needs a servicing. These typically are the easier signs of a potential problem. On the other hand, predicting that a signal light bulb is about to fuse, for example, may be harder to gauge. A vehicle owner can take his or her vehicle to a specialist to examine the vehicle for potential problems, but this can be time consuming and expensive.
Various alternatives have been suggested in the art for identifying and diagnosing vehicle service conditions. For example, US Publication No. 2008/0215665 issued to Appleby, et al., discloses a method for generating an update status alert at a receiving device. The receiving device operates in a network of participating devices. Each participating device broadcasts status information about a monitored entity associated with a respective participating device which may be a vehicle. Accordingly, the method comprises receiving broadcast status information from each of the participating devices. The method further comprises aggregating the received status information to derive a consensus of the status information received from each of the participating devices; comparing the derived consensus with the status of the monitored entity of the receiving device; detecting a difference between the derived consensus and the status of the monitored entity; and in dependence of a difference being determined, generating an update status alert at the receiving device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,738,697 issued to Breed discloses a telematics system for vehicle diagnostics. A vehicle diagnostic system which diagnoses the state of the vehicle or the state of a component of the vehicle and generates an output indicative or representative thereof is presented. A communications device transmits the output of the diagnostic system to a remote location, possibly via a satellite or the Internet. The diagnostic system can include sensors mounted on the vehicle, each providing a measurement related to a state of the sensor or a measurement related to a state of the mounting location, and a processor coupled to the sensors and arranged to receive data from the sensors and process the data to generate the output indicative or representative of the state of the vehicle or its component. The processor may embody a pattern recognition algorithm trained to generate the output from the data received from the sensors and be arranged to control parts of the vehicle based on the output.
Furthermore, certain vehicles are equipped with telematics systems that can diagnose the condition of a vehicle. One example is the SYNC system manufactured by the Ford Motor Company.
Nevertheless, while these alternatives provide certain benefits, what is needed is a method and system for monitoring the condition of vehicle components from a remote nomadic wireless device or computer. Moreover, having ready access to information about a vehicle component including, but not limited to, a location to purchase the vehicle component and its price, would also be desirable.